SOLID-STATE

In the re-earth colony of Neo Delta, life is patented and death is planned obsolescence.

Zag industries owns everything-including the synware technology keeping people alive under an irradiated sky. When rumors spread of a black market 'patch' that could threaten Zag's monopoly, the corporation deploys its newest and deadliest creation:

E.L.I.A.S.-3B, an experimental combat AI wired into the body of a brain-dead soldier.

Elias's first mission is supposed to be simple: infiltrate the crime syndicate known as "The Foundry", raze their patch operation to the ground, and return to Zag. Instead, a blown op strands him in Underline-damaged, cut off from Zag's servers, and beyond the reach of a retrieval team.

Reiji Mercer is an unlicensed gilder with failing synware, already in the late stages of radiation sickness. He spends most of his borrowed time turning junked parts into functional gilds for desperate people-patching up broken bodies no one else will touch.

So, when Rei finds a stranger with military-grade gilds broken and bleeding in an alley, he does what he does best: he fixes.

Brought together by chance, Elias and Rei find themselves at the heart of a systemic, deadly power struggle. But as Elias continues to hunt the Foundry through the city's neon underbelly, the clean lines of his programming start to blur. His borrowed body remembers things he was never taught, and recognizes places he's never been. His systems spike and stutter around Reiji's callused hands and quiet, illogical kindness.

The objective in his coding is clear: complete the mission, return to Zag. He wasn't designed to want more than that. Still, Elias finds himself straying further from his objective for the sake of a man-and a city-he was never meant to love.